Homemade semi-buckwheat bread

Doesn’t a warm loaf of freshly baked bread sound so right on these cold winter days? I never imagined how easy it would be to make your own bread until trying out this super simple no-knead bread recipe. Seriously.

I guess European life has converted me into a gluten-monster. Bread and everything dough (apart from baos and cinnamon rolls!) never really appealed to me that much until I moved to Europe. I mean I would of course eat bread back home, but I never gave it much thought. The only ones that I remember savoring back in the days were the warm bread rolls (pains serviettes) they would serve in fancy restaurants. That in itself gave me the impression that bread is a complex thing to make, so I never really dared to make them.

Fast-track to France and Switzerland, and suddenly bread is everywhere. No – scratch that – GOOD bread is everywhere! So then my love for bread just grew exponentially, and I am a gluten fool daring to make my own bread.

This isn’t my first attempt to bake bread, but perhaps, this is the first successful one. Do try it out, and really, you’ll feel so accomplished once that nice loaf comes out of the oven.

In a large bowl, mix warm water and yeast together. Stir it until lumps of yeast have disappeared. Add the olive oil, salt and sugar. Pour in 1 cup of the all purpose flour and 1 cup of the buckwheat flour. Mix everything together until the ingredients are well incorporated. It takes a minute or so to mix it all together by hand. Finally, add in the rest of the flour. Mix it once again until dough starts to form into a solid mass (but it will still be sticky and wet so don’t worry! ). Leave the dough to proof for about 30-60 minutes.

Grease your baking pan. I used a 29 x 12cm loaf pan for this recipe. Pour the proofed dough into the pan, and using your fingers, sprinkle a bit of flour on top and gently push down the dough to cover all corners of the pan. Cover and leave to proof for another 30-45 minutes or until the dough has doubled.

Pre-heat your oven to 190°C.Once your dough has doubled in size and the oven is nicely hot, it’s time to chuck in the dough in the oven. Bake your bread for 45 minutes in 190°C.

Aaaaaaaaand… Ta-da! It should be nicely golden brown on the outside and fluffy inside. Yumm! Let it cool and don’t hold yourself and dig in!

Feel free to change the flour and add nuts and grains based on your preferences. I tried another loaf with rice & millet flour and added some poppy seeds. It was great too. I discovered that rice and millet flour absorbs more water when baked though, so I would probably add more liquid (water or milk) next time.

Who’s cooking?

Sarah is a graphic designer + food creative + pseudo-photographer always looking for ways and venues to pop some creative experiments. Chez nous is a chronicle of these experiments and adventures from the kitchen table.